Brian Glasser
MINNEAPOLIS (Legal Newsline) - Attorneys for a group of prescription drug retailers say the actions of plaintiffs attorneys suing them should not be tolerated and that their ignorance of federal class action rules is no excuse for their behavior.
The attorneys wrote Friday that plaintiffs lawyers - including Bailey & Glasser of Charleston, W.Va. - are only asking for their case to be remanded to state court because they received an adverse decision by the federal court. The drug stores made their argument in response to the plaintiffs' motion to remand.
Former U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum once called the allegations made in the complaint - that the drug stores did not pass savings on generic drugs onto consumers - "laughable" and told the plaintiffs they could amend their complaint. However, Rosenbaum remanded the case, though the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit overturned that decision.
The drug stores - which include CVS, Target and Wal-Mart - noted that it took more than 100 days from the time the suit was removed to federal court for the plaintiffs to ask for remand.
"This abuse of the federal forum cannot be tolerated," attorneys for the stores wrote. "Indeed, preventing such blatant gamesmanship is particularly important in this case. Following the Eighth Circuit's guidance, this court will be the first to address the local controversy provision as a non-jurisdictional basis for remand."
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